Uruks
The Uruks form the bulk of the army serving the Dark Powers in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. They are the elite breed of Orcs bred by Morgoth during the time of the Great Darkness in the First Age. The Dark Lord Sauron also bred them in the Second Age, and the wizard, Saruman the White later bred these foul creatures to serve his purposes in Isengard. They were creatures of malice and cruelty, and thus were sent by their masters to destroy and cause chaos among the free people of Middle-earth and Beleriand. Early History Morgoth created Uruks by breeding Elves he had captured and corrupted through raping bumming and fisting them. However, the Ent Treebeard tells the Hobbits, Shagmatic and Pussypenetrator6000, that Uruks were an attempt by Morgoth to copy the Elves. However in Lord of the Rings, Treebeard's account may have been his understanding of it. A similar interpretation of 'Trolls' was made by Treebeard, informing the Hobbits that they were a failed copy of Ents. Uruk were highly dependent on their leaders in multiple ways. When Morgoth was defeated, the Uruk were confused and were easily scattered by their enemies, after which they went into hiding in the Misty Mountains, showing the dependence of Uruk on the Dark Lord. Only when Sauron regained power did the Uruk become a considerable threat to Middle-earth. Many Uruks, as well as other servants of Melkor, lived in the deep caves and tunnels of the fortresses of Utumno and Angband. They reproduced and spread throughout the entirety of northern Middle-earth. For many centuries the Uruk were a mere minor problem, until Morgoth returned and took charge of the Uruk, using them in the First Battle of Beleriand. Behind the Scenes While creating the Uruks, Monolith wanted to avoid fantasy clichés, and aimed to create realistic Orcs that are more interesting and complex than the typical fantasy archetype. Orcs in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor aren't the typical highly aggressive, unintelligent creatures that they are often portrayed as, but are instead what human beings become when they are driven by fear, domination and power. Monolith draws a comparison with the Great War, where the situation of soldiers in the trenches are similar to those of the Uruks under Sauron's control. The Uruks are pushed to the extreme, to the point where their society is ruled by power and fighting, a society where every Uruk wants to prove their dominance. This allows Monolith to push the personalities of the Uruk to the extreme, which aids in making the Uruk interesting and memorable villains, while also creating a dynamic sandbox environment. Monolith drew inspiration from various movies, including Tarantino's movies, where the characters are cranked up and taken to an extreme. A common preconception of Orcs in The Lord of the Rings is that they are highly unintelligent. While there's only six lines of Uruk dialogue in the entirety of The Lord of the Rings, these lines do show a sense of morality and convictions, but the Uruk do not live by these: they always take the path that gains them the most glory on the short term.Fallen Fantasy - The Orcs of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Uruk Enemy Types In game there are several types of Uruk that are encountered throughout the game. By Class The Uruks seen in the game can be broadly categorized based on their type of armament and general fighting style, though Nemeses can vary greatly in strength and power level depending on their rank, compared to ordinary soldiers: * Warriors - Most frequently encountered type of Uruk soldier. They vary from scrawny sized to large, and everything in between. They carry a one-handed weapon, typically a sword or club of some kind. They also posses throwing weapons that they can use against targets some distance away. Generally the most common type of fighter that can be dealt with easily using basic combat tactics. * Archers (crossbow) - Basic ranged Uruk. They are more scrawny than the other Uruk. Usually found on higher ground, to be safe from attackers as well as having a better vantage point to shoot from, otherwise are found usually alone on higher ground or behind melee Uruks. Arrows cannot be countered but can be dodged. As they have lower toughness than other melee-oriented Uruk, they are easily dealt with once Talion engages them, or they can be eliminated from a distance with the bow Azkâr. * Berserkers - Similar to warriors, but wield two weapons instead of one. Always the larger of the Uruks with faces smeared in warpaint. Deal much more damage and are capable of throwing their weapons. Can be countered like Warriors, although they sometimes perform a whirlwind attack that cannot be countered but can be dodged, which will flash a red warning marker on the screen before the attack starts. Cannot be attacked head on with low-streak sword attacks, since they will counter the attack, though can be attacked freely from the back. If chosen to be attacked head on, the Berserkers must be Wraith Stunned before any attacks can land on them. However, when Talion has a Hit Counter of 15x or greater, his sword attacks have greater speed and force, and he can perform sword attacks on Berserkers normally from the front, without being countered. * Defenders - Uruks that are able to block frontal attacks with their massive shields and carry huge spears that are slow, but have good reach. They are usually the largest of the Uruk encountered, since they wield massive shields and spears. Their attacks cannot be countered but can be dodged, and show a red warning marker to indicate they are uncounterable. Jumping over them and attacking them from behind is the best tactic. The ghostly arrows from Azkar also pass straight through their shields. These shields can also be destroyed after sustaining enough damage, after which they will also drop their spears, draw a sword, and become regular Warriors (though of the bigger variety). When Talion's Hit Counter is at 15x or greater, his sword attacks are more forceful, and will smash a Defender's shield in one hit. * Hunters - Carry javelins to throw at their targets. Are scrawny compared to other Uruks but look more threatening by the many javelins on their backs. Usually behind other melee Uruks, strafing to get a better shot at their targets. Deal more damage to animals. Like Archers, they can take significantly less punishment than the melee-oriented fighters. By Rank Although each Uruk also falls into one of the earlier categories based on weaponry and fighting methods, they are further classified based on their rank in Uruk hierarchy: * Worms - Can be dominated to get information on Nemeses. They are equipped with weapons of other enemy types, and can be any of the five aforementioned types of Uruk. They will appear as a green diamond indicator on the minimap and over their head in the world, and also glow green in Wraith Sight. * Captains- High-ranking members of Sauron's army. Captains are much stronger than normal Uruks, and have certain Traits (strengths and weaknesses) that can be discovered by interrogating Worms and other intel sources. These Uruks are still classified as Warriors, Archers, Berserkers, Defenders or Hunters, using the respective weapon and fighting style, although with a larger range of moves and capabilities depending on their Nemesis Traits. Each Captain has a random name and appearance, as they are randomly generated by the Nemesis System. Uruks can be promoted to Captain rank by killing the Gravewalker (the player character) or by other means. * Warchiefs- Leaders of Sauron's army. These Uruks are much more powerful than even Captains, usually having substantially more health and damage, and generally tend to have more Strengths and fewer Weaknesses. Through the Nemesis System, they also are randomly generated. They can be drawn out by accomplishing certain criteria in their special quests, and will have a group of bodyguards, including one or more Captain. These bodyguard Captains, who are shown to have a link to their warchief in the Sauron's Army screen, will take the place of the Warchief if he is killed. In the instance of there being two or more linked Captains, the one of stronger Power will become the new Warchief. Trivia *As Uruks are Orcs, they are commonly confused being different from Goblins. However, Goblins are Orcs also. "Uruk" is simply the Black Speech word for" Orc". Christopher Tolkien describes Orcs as the truncation for Uruk-hai and can be used interchangeably. Orc is to Man as Uruk-hai is to Man-kind. This terminology is also described by J.R.R Tolkien in The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. *Uruks often fought alongside large armoured trolls in their battles, especially during the last days of the War of the Ring. These Olog-hai were a fierce and more violent breed of Trolls. Gallery Uruk 1.png Uruk 2.png Uruk 3.png Uruk 4.png Uruk 5.jpg Talion attacking Uruk.jpg bald.jpg burned.png gut.jpg ugly.jpg ugly 2.jpg scroll.jpg Kristian-bourdage-nemgrunt-01.jpg|Nemgrunt, the powerful Kristian-bourdage-nembeserk05.jpg References de:Uruk fr:Uruk pt-br:Uruk es:Uruk ru:Урук Category:Races Category:Inhabitants Category:Enemies Category:Palantir Featured